Do/did you read to your baby under 6mo?

[Laksa]

I read to Harper 4-5 times a week and have done since he was a couple of weeks old. he loves it - kicks his legs and squeals. our fave is a big bright animals one. i also like reading him books with letters and numbers. i believe it will help him when he learns to read and, more importantly, i want him to love books like i do :D

do/did you read to your small babies? is it worth it at that age? do you think it helps development of literacy skills?

[jess_live_die]

my mum started reading to my kids when i was 6 months preg and i started as soon as they were born and my girls are to smart for there own good lol

[MelNTom]

Yes I have read to Ds since he was first born, At Out local hospital the have a lady from the library come around with a new book and bag for your child. loved the idea... i read to him everyday...

[fifipirko]

I am a big book fan ... so I will encourage Zoya to love books as well. Can not wait all the stories and tales I have not heard form childhood :D

[Oblena]

I read to DD since she was 2 weeks old because I didn't know what to say to her. I wasn't sure if it would do anything, but I felt that before 6 months was important for literacy.

I read to her 2 - 3 times a day and ask DH to read a book at night. We all love it and DD gets very excited when a book is out. I hope that she loves books as much as I do.

[veve]

DEFINITELY ..

we have a photo of JAck reading a bath book- and he was younger than 12 weeks .. he LOVES books ..

now that he is older - he will sit and read books by himself .. or sit with me for over half an hour reading reading reading..

IMO - the earlier you start and the more you read - the more the child will learn to LOVE reading ..

xx
JEn

[fifipirko]

I am reading to her already .. we are in the middle of Little Prince from Exupery :thumbsup:

[stilldreaming]

I have read to both of my children from day dot.

Abbey is just 1 and picks her books, reverses onto my lap and waits. Very cute :D .

Coop already has me read longer stories to him -I would read on average about 10 books to both of them every day, sometimes alot more. Basically if they ask me to at any time of the day I will do it.

I am a major book nerd :D and they are already as well.

I think it has huge benefits-Coop was such an early talker and now he talks so well...almost too much!:laughing: I put it down to all the books!

[Laksa]

I am a major book nerd :D and they are already as well.

I think it has huge benefits-Coop was such an early talker and now he talks so well...almost too much!:laughing: I put it down to all the books!
yay for book nerds :smiliedance: lol
my mum also says i spoke well from an early age and she thinks its because i was always a book lover. "book" was one of my first words!

[~mia&ryan~]

I have read to both of my children from day dot.

Abbey is just 1 and picks her books, reverses onto my lap and waits. Very cute :D .
DD is the same!!! It is soo cute!!! I have read to her since before she was born and she just loves books now!!!

[veryproudmummy]

I have been reading to Tyler since we came back from the hospital. He was always amazed with the colours and the sound of my voice reading to him seemed to be soothing as he always stayed quiet when he was an infant. Since he was about 8 months or so he would choose himself a book while playing and bring it too me. He is 14 months now and also picks a book and reversers into my lap ready to be read to!!! its so cute:) We have started counting books in the last few weeks and now he counts all the objects on each page with his finger. He really loves reading time!!!

[kiah]

I have read to both of my children since they were newborns.

I also sing to them all the time. It's a lovely way to bond and great learning.

[mim1]

Josh loves books and has from a young age. We have a great photo of him reading a book my himself at age 12 weeks :). Ok, so maybe he was just looking at it, but it's the same thing really at 12 weeks :). It's a great bonding time too.

[Tabby]

Yep, since about a few weeks old, reading and singing ( even though I cant sing for nuts she likes it lol ) .
Same as kiah, I think its a wonderful bonding thing, not sure of the benefits but she loves it thats what matters to me.

[Wivi]

We read books with DS from day one and he loves books. He will sit and read by himself or with you a hundred times a day.

Both DH and I are "readers" and we are very happy that DS loves his books too. I think that reading to them is a very special time from an early age and is great for bonding as well as an appreciation of books.

I ony hope that if we have more bubs we will spend time reading to them as well.

[charlen49]

I read to Harper 4-5 times a week and have done since he was a couple of weeks old. he loves it - kicks his legs and squeals. our fave is a big bright animals one. i also like reading him books with letters and numbers. i believe it will help him when he learns to read and, more importantly, i want him to love books like i do :D

do/did you read to your small babies? is it worth it at that age? do you think it helps development of literacy skills?
:thumbsup: YESYESYES....most definately...i have done the same........since bub was a few weeks....it use to capture her attention instantly!!!......though now at 7mths she wants to eat those books!!!!!hehe
Oh and like others have said..i sing to her every day!( its horrible but she stops and listens to the nursery rhymes! and other tunes)
I use to do it to DD#1 and she is an advanced reader and still luvs books at 11!..when she was a toddler her bedtime routine eas a story before bed....even if she chose the same one over and over again!!!!

[Harlequin]

Sort of... if you can call it reading ;)
I 'read' bath books and those cloth books with no words. The story changes a lot hahaha. She really enjoys it though.
She also loves singing. I sing a lot so she's probably used to it from when she was baking in my belly.

Here she is reading sideways:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/irene.m/June2007/photo#5072558072076633762
If you go to the next photo you can see what she thought of the ending. ;)

[charlen49]

DEFINITELY ..

we have a photo of JAck reading a bath book- and he was younger than 12 weeks .. he LOVES books ..

now that he is older - he will sit and read books by himself .. or sit with me for over half an hour reading reading reading..

IMO - the earlier you start and the more you read - the more the child will learn to LOVE reading ..

xx
JEn
i totally agree....i should take a pic of my 7mth old reading in the bath too..its hilarious......legs crossed hanging onto the correst way..turning the pages....it looks as though she is reading a newspaper...and the quizzical look she gets on her face......priceless!!:yes:

[MoOaNdLiTtLePoPpEt]

yes always!!!!
Have since he was born :-)
He loves it...it is his night time routine...we also do lots of singing too...or i just tell him the stories of goldilocks and the 3 bears, or 3 little pigs without the books and he LOVES it....i think it is important...and it is quite time too with your little angels....it is a nice time!

[MrsScatterbrain]

ABSOLUTELY! I read that even newborns are making thousands and thousands of brain connections every minute - and the brain connections helped along by your reading still continue while they sleep! :yes:

[pinkprincess_84]

DH has read to DD since day one, she loves her bed time stories, but not just that she loves the time spent with DH.

[ziggy29]

thanks for the inspiration girls. i am running out of things to say to dd - reading loads of books is a wonderful idea.

[Mum&bubs]

Yep I read to both of my girls at very early stages of their life. And I do think it is worth while :yes: My girls love reading! And would rather books then toys.

[kiah]

ABSOLUTELY! I read that even newborns are making thousands and thousands of brain connections every minute - and the brain connections helped along by your reading still continue while they sleep! :yes:

Yes i have read this too. I have also read studies on similar things to do with baby sign language too in helping further make connections.

[mumofesme]

I started when esmé was newborn, can't remember exactly when cos the first couple of weeks were a complete blur! But now she LOVES reading and she is way too smart for her own good!!!
Her vocab is very good and I put that down to the myriads of books we read each day. She now says "How do you do" which she got from Richard Scarry.

She's now started to "read" out loud to me a little. So cute.